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SHE GUARDS HER PRIVACY, BUT BEYONCÉ KNOWLES WAS POSITIVELY CONFESSIONAL WHEN SHE MET FABULOUS TO UNVEIL HER FIERCE ALTER EGO

By Simon Gage & Jess Spiring

Curled up on a sofa in a checked shirt and skinnygrey jeans, it's hard to believe Beyoncé Knowles is the same woman who's just been va-va-vamping it up for a photo shoot. She's so shy and softly spoken, it's often hard to catch what she's saying.

"There are two different sides of me," she confesses. "There's the normal, quiet Beyoncé – the real me – then there's my alter ego, Sasha Fierce. She's who I become on stage."

A bit like Katie Price to Jordan then, but without the cosmetic surgery. So how did Sasha come into existence?

"I was doing my stuff, being a diva and my friend said: ‘Woah, Sasha.' That's how it stuck. Without Sasha, I'd never have the nerve to get up in front of thousands and perform," says the 27-year-old singer. "Sasha's the confident, aggressive, sexual one."

And Sasha was very much in evidence on set today as Beyoncé flaunted her body, biting seductively on her metal glove and pulling at her barely-there mini.

"It's a bit schizophrenic!" she laughs. "When I was little I told my mother I wanted to be Michael Jackson. But I was too scared to tell anyone else because I thought they'd ask me to sing and I was shy."

It was on stage at a school talent contest, while singing John Lennon's Imagine, that Beyoncé began to channel Sasha.

"Up on stage something happened," she explains. "Suddenly I wasn't shy any more, and from that moment on, I wanted to be a singer more than anything in the world."

Spurred on by her school success, 10-year-old ‘B', as she's known to friends, formed a band called Girl's Tyme. A change of name later and Destiny's Child was born, and after a shift in the line-up, Beyoncé was eventually joined by Kelly Rowland, 27, and Michelle Williams, 28. Backed by her parents – dad Matthew quit his job to manage the band while mum Tina worked all hours at her hair salon to support the family – it wasn't long before Columbia Records signed the girls. The rest is multi-platinum-selling history.

Now, 10 years after the first Destiny's Child album, Beyoncé feels it's finally time to credit Sasha's part in her success – naming her third solo album I Am… Sasha Fierce. If you want to see Sasha at her fiercest, just watch the video of her new release, Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It).

We detect a blush as the diva watches her hot routine, and the way she shakes that famous booty in an asymmetrical high-cut leotard and heels.

"It's quite raunchy, isn't it?" laughs Beyoncé. "In real life I'm way more conservative. How I dress on stage is only for the stage. I wouldn't feel comfortable walking about with my midriff showing. Do I play Sasha for my husband? Ha ha! Sometimes… on special occasions."

Ah finally. The husband. Beyoncé is fiercely private about her marriage, and her conservative side was in evidence when she married award-winning rapper Jay-Z, 38, in a low-key ceremony in New York in April.

"I didn't want a dramatic wedding," she explains. "People can sometimes put too much emphasis on the big day, but it's so temporary, it's gone in a second."

Her wedding may have been over in a flash, but her ring is eternal. Beyoncé has a £2.5million 18-carat diamond that barely made a dent in her husband's £41million 2007 earnings. So the newly-weds didn't need cash for pictures of their big day.

"They offered us crazy money, but we weren't interested," says the singer. "It was very private. Outside it was paparazzi madness, but inside it was beautiful."

Beyoncé has been less secretive about her relationship since her wedding.

"I knew I wouldn't get married before the age of 25," she says. "You have to know yourself, know what you want, spend time by yourself and be proud of who you are before you can share with someone else.

"I was 18 when we met, so there was no rush," she says. But the wait was worth it.

"It feels great being married. I had my own life before I became someone's wife."

* I Am… Sasha Fierce is out now.

THE FEISTY FIVE

1. You've been in an Oscar-winning movie and have eight Grammys. What next?

A superhero movie. A black Wonder Woman would be powerful.

2. Are you ready for babies?

I'd love a family. I've been spending time with my nephew, Daniel, and he's the smartest little boy. Maybe I'll have my own in the next three years.

3. Jay-Z's as successful as you. Does he have a big ego?

I don't think so. People who are happy and secure don't have an ego.

4. You always seem so upbeat. Do you have dark moments?

Yeah. For a couple of years when I was 19 I suffered depression.

5. You're known as a bit of a diva. Do you ever lose your temper?

I know when to be strong and when not to be. When I'm not, it's a quiet storm.

BEYONCÉ ON HER BODY

"i love food so i have to train hard"

Beyoncé admits that keeping her body bootylicious takes a lot of hard work.

"I go through agonies to keep my stomach as flat as possible," she confesses. "There's a fat person inside me just dying to get out. I can't help it. I absolutely love, love, love food. When I was little, I went to my grandparents' house in Alabama where everything they cooked was full of butter and fried. I've loved fattening stuff ever since."

It's no wonder Beyoncé hated the extreme diet she had to follow to play Deena in the movie Dreamgirls. By cutting out her favourite foods and fasting – surviving on maple syrup, cayenne pepper and lemon juice – she lost 20lb.

"I was so hungry," she recalls. "And I was smaller than I thought was attractive, so I went crazy as soon as I finished the movie because I needed to put weight back on. I don't think women have to be super-slim to be sexy. Sure, I worry about being in shape, but I also understand that I have a certain shape and I'm not going to have the perfect legs and waist. We all have our imperfections."

Rather than cut back on food, Beyoncé works out to maintain her amazing figure.

"I train for an hour and a half, five days a week," she says. "I run two and a half miles on the treadmill. I'm trying to get up to six.

"I do free weights and a lot of squats. They're for my booty and legs. I love big strong legs, but I have to work to keep mine tight."

PHOTOGRAPHY: SPLASH, ABSOLUTE FILM, GOFFINF LTD, XPOSURE